English Christian male who is not backward in coming forward with opinions.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Conservatives Delete Marriage

In the week in which a statistical snapshot of Britain is showing thatchildren are increasingly likely to live in one-parent families,Conservatives are running for the Scottish Parliament and NationalAssembly of Wales on manifestos which have deleted any mention of theimportance of marriage. Neither the Scottish nor Welsh Conservativecampaign documents either mention marriage or offer any proposal toback couples who make this important social commitment.- CPA press release

Commenting, the Leader of CPA Scotland, Teresa Smith, said:

"This is the first major electoral test for David Cameron since he becameConservative leader. He has made a few noises recognising the socialsignificance of marriage, but when it has come to deliver policies to theScottish people, his party has failed abjectly. All the Scots Tories offer isa pledge to "stand up for families of every type and background" (ScottishConservative Manifesto 2007: Standing up for Families) which sounds to melike more of the political correctness that's done so much damage alreadyto Scotland's social fabric."

Adding his views, Anthony Jeremy, CPA Cymru National Spokesman said:

"Officials responsible for the Social Trends survey have singled out thegrowth in numbers of children brought up in single parent families, sothat now almost a quarter of all children - 24 per cent - are brought upby a lone mother or father. More than four out of ten children are bornoutside marriage. This simply must be addressed by politicians of allparties. Our government has done nothing to back marriage, which all theevidence tells us is the best place for children to be raised. Now theofficial opposition are following in Labour's footsteps."

The policies of the Christian Peoples Alliance make backing marriage aforemost pledge. They address the issues outlined in the Social Trendsreport - the annual snapshot of national life. This shows that the familyties that once bound people together are becoming increasingly fragmented.Nearly a quarter of children live in one-parent families, nearly a thirdof the population lives alone, and 43 per cent of babies are born outsidemarriage. Family break-up and the increase in the number of older peoplemean that 29 per cent of all households are made up of one person livingalone.

As Abraham Kuyper explained over 100 years ago, the difference between aconsevative and a liberal is 10 years.